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Sam
stared at the bowl in disbelief. It couldn't be. No one would be this
stupid.
"Do
you think we could trade this for something?" asked the old woman.
Something!!! Sam mentally scoffed. They could trade it for
everything he was carrying on his cart plus everything they owned. Did they
really not recognize the value of what they presented him? Sure the bowl was
covered in a layer of dust but he had recognized it as priceless from one swipe
at that grime.
The elderly woman and the young child she had in
tow stared at him with wide uncomprehending eyes. Suddenly Sam felt a dark rush
of inspiration.
They have no idea how rich they could be. It’s their own fault
they aren’t living like royalty right now. I don’t really have to trade
anything for this bowl. If I say it’s worthless they will abandon it and I can
circle back around and seize it for free.
“This bowl is worth less than a penny!! Why are you
wasting my valuable time. This bowl is so old and grimy you might ask well
throw it away,” Sam sneered cruelly as he tossed the bowl onto the ground. He
felt a twinge of guilt at the hurt look on the young girl’s face but his greed
quickly forced it from his mind.
Sam scurried about the rest of his route. He was so
fixated on the treasure he was certain still lay in the dirt road that he didn’t
even notice that the rest of his bargains were exceptionally generous for the
day. Finally he circle back to where he had left the old woman and her granddaughter.
NO! Where is it. Where is it. This isn’t happening.
The bowl was gone. So were the old woman and young
girl. He quickly grabbed a neighbor coming out of their house.
“An old woman and her granddaughter tried to sell
me a bowl earlier. Do you know where they have gone or where the bowl is.” Sam
was unable to keep the desperation out of his voice and the neighbor gave him a
strange look.
“ Another merchant came after you. I heard him say
that the bowl was priceless. He sold all of his wares to Agatha and her
granddaughter and left with the bowl. I Agatha is taking little Sheila to go
shopping with the wares. Now I have work to do so go,” the neighbor replied.
How could I have been so stupid? I could have gotten the bowl for
a mere trinket and instead I now have nothing beyond what I made today. Perhaps
ambition and greed are not the virtues I treat them as. I will have to be more
careful in the future.
Bibliography and Authors Note
This story is a twist on The Merchant of Seri. In the original story a good merchant is honest with an old woman and her granddaughter about the worth of what they are trying to sell after a greedy merchant tries to trick them. The good merchant and the woman and child all end up wealthy and happy. For my story I wanted to follow the storyline of the greedy merchant and try and explore his motivations and how he must have felt when he returned to try and get the bowl.
Elizabeth, very interesting take on your version of the original story. I really liked how you delved into the mind of the greedy merchant and keeping with the original story, rather than giving another overview of the whole situation. It was interesting to see how he left the girl and her grandmother and tried to come back for the item, rather than just steal it since he was so greedy. Though, it made sense to add that pause for another man to tell of the merchant's greed and help the two women. Great job!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI also read this story this week and really liked the plot of it. I think it was a great story about honesty. I like your take of it and think you did a great job on spinning this story your own way. I like that you gave the story a different perspective from the original writing. Great Job!
Wow, Elizabeth! I thought your rendition of the original story was super interesting. By only changing the perspective of the story, and not the actual details itself, I thought you kept the main idea well-intact, but added a unique twist. In fact, the way you wrote this story with a lot of dialogue has inspired me to consider doing that for my own stories in the future. Great work!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I really like your blog layout and your choice of picture! Your story was also incredible. I like how you switched from italicized thoughts to normal text and dialgoue, as well as the bolding of your author notes.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy that you focused on the greedy merchant while the original strayed and gave happy endings.
Great job!
Hi Elizabeth! I thought this was such a good story. Your story makes me want to read the original. I thought the format of your story was the best part because it was so different and fun to read. My favorite part was the priceless characteristic you described. I thought you did a great job on putting your own twist on this story. Great work!
ReplyDelete